Sunday, January 17, 2010

Meteorite Show in Arizona

Tucson, AZ (KOLD) - The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory will hold an exhibition on the U of A campus which boosts the largest collection of Arizona meteorites in a single place. The exhibition is free to the public and will be held on January 30th in the Kuiper Space Science Building from 6 to 9 PM.

Since 1891, more than 95 separately classified meteorites have been found in Arizona. The goal of the laboratory is to display at least one piece from each meteorite found, and to do this they will be getting help from private individuals and other institutions.

What this means, of course, is the possibility of being struck by a meteorite is much more likely than previously thought. When they say "separately classified meteorites," that's just what they mean. Many of those 95 fragmented into many smaller pieces just prior to impact.

What's your opinion? Is it responsible to take no precautions against an eventuality which is as potentially devastating as being hit by a meteorite? Wouldn't this fall under the purview of the manly head-of-household who is generally the principal bread-winner and does all the driving on family outings? What do you think? Certainly women and children shouldn't have to worry about stuff like this?